Lyrics I Saw a Hippie Girl on 8th Ave - Jeffrey Lewis

I Saw a Hippie Girl on 8th Ave

I saw a hippy girl on 8th avenue
She barely looked at me for a second or two
And I suddenly realized I no longer looked much like a hippy
Mmmmm
She had a long thin dress and rainbow clothes
Not long ago I wore one of those
But now-a-days I guess I don’t dress very much like anything
Mmmmm
I had a great pair of bellbottoms, I had two
My friend borrowed one and the other I outgrew
And now to the eye I’m turning into another non-descript guy
But I still travel light and my hair is still long
I still hate deodorant and I still sing songs
But over the years I’ve noticed I’m not dressing as colourfully and psychedelic
as I used to
'Cause I wore my tye-dyes until they rotted to shreds
And I can no longer follow The Grateful Dead
And it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even identify with most Phish fans
anymore
And someday soon I know I’ll cut my hair
And a week after that I know I won’t even care
Is that what it comes to all along
Everything that you feel will one day feel wrong
I was talking to my friend Eric
Just to see what he thunk
And he said «Jeff, it’s weird
But I no longer look like a punk
I guess we don’t need our clothes for an identity crutch»
And we looked at each other and we didn’t look like much
And we looked out at the world like a movie theatre
At all the hippies and the punks and the skinheads and the skaters
And someday or other maybe sooner or later they’ll come to the realization
That what’s important is whether you can carry on a human conversation
It’s not what you wear on the outside
It’s how you think and feel on the inside